Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-10-27
TO BE A SOLDIER.
Physical Requirements that Not Many APP
pIicants Can Meet.

| Physical Requirements that Not Many APP
/ plicants Can Meet.
s'Then what few men are out of EN-.
| ployment and want to go into Uncle
| Sans service are most of them not up
to the standard" said Lieut. Cusick,
who is in charge of the recruiting of
flee recently moved to Portland from
Pittsburg. 1t is the first opened
in Maine for great many years, per-
haps the first since the days of the
war The lieutenant continued:
'.The United States army wants
1900 men at once to bring it's strength
up to the $4,000 required by the act of
congress. So far we have had but
twenty-one applications in Portland,
and only three of them have been &C
ceptable Of the other nineteen there
was one out or another that COM
PEELED us TO reject them. Fully two
thirds of them had defective eyes,
One eye was not SO good as the other
In the army man must have good
eyes that he may become a good
marksman, and that he may be able
to distinguish different objects. One
eye should be as good as the other
| y
an eye the efficiency of the soldier may
not be impaired. Dissipated habits,
too much rum and tobacco, are COM
mon causes of these weaknesses of the
eyes. In many cases defects of vision
have been produced by blows.
''Then in chest measurement and
weight we find frequent reasons for
rejecting applicants, especially at this
season of the year. The hard work of
summer reduces the weight and the
girth of the chest. We have regular
| system of measurements, and it Will
not do to depart from a standard in a
single particular. For the infantry
service we take none below feet a
inches in height, and none over feet
inches. For the cavalry feet inches
| to feet 10 inches are the limits. We
don't have any tall cavalrymen be-
| cause they are liable to get too heavy.
| Light, tough men are wanted for that
| service. Now for the shortest in
fantrymen, feet inches we require,
that he shall have a weight of 1913
| pounds, chest measurement of "a inches
with the ability to expand his chest 2
| inches by drawing in a full breath.
Then these requirements of weight
and chest measurement are higher for
taller men. A man 5 feet s inches
tall must weigh al pounds at least
measure 34a around the chest, and
have a chest expansion of q inches,
for feet 10 inches the required mini
mum is 155 pounds for weight, So
inches chest and p expansions; for
feet the weight is 1863, the chest meas
urement 361, expansion d. You see
that it does not necessarily follow that
a man must be an athlete to join the
army, as the tables to which the pro-
fessors of physical culture train their
pupils to have a standard of chest
| measurement somewhere near forty
inches for a man six feet tall. But we
| want good average well-built, and
healthy men, without any defects
| physically. So far we have secured
three out of every twenty applicants.
But don't think this small proportion
is any sign that the vigor of the youth
of Maine is departing. For many rea-
sons the men who apply are not fair
samples"
care the inducements offered by the
service such as to attract the most am
bilious men?' asked the reporter.
''Well, you can judge for yourself.
The soldier gets $13 month with his
board and clothes He enlists for five
years, and must stay in the service
until his term expires, unless he can get
the secretary of war to allow his dis
charge. By good behavior he gets an
increase of 81 month during the
third year of service, So during the
fourth, and $3 during the fifth. If he
is promoted he gets further additions
to his pay. He may become cor
poral, sergeant, quartermaster-
sergeant, quartermaster, or COM
missary; he may even go higher, and
by passing an examination before
board of officers get certified for an
examination at Fortress Monroe, Va.
IF he passes at the fort he may then be-
come commissioned officer, starting
IS second lieutenant.
''Do many avail themselves of the
opportunity"
1.-The young men who graduate at
| West Point have the first chance, and
of late they have filled all the vacant
commissions. Practically very few
men rise in the army from the ranks
to commission. Adjt. Gen. Drum,
| however, is one who did. | am not a
graduate of West Point myself, but
| served as an officer of volunteers
during the war, and was then trans
ferred to the regular army as a COM
missioned officer. So [ had an OPP
portunity better than falls to the young
man who enters the army now in any
other way than through West Point
Yet there are some promotions even
now. The commissions of the army
are also open to civilians, though this
is not generally known. After the
West Point graduates have got places,
and the promotions from the ranks of
non-commssioned officers have been
made, any vancanies left (there are
rarely any, however,) are open to
civilians who can pass the examina-
ton required.
A recent freshet in Wilkes comfy,
Georgia, washed away part of hill
| on which an Indian village once stood.